Paramount and Temple Hill are all smiles.
Their new film, Smile 2, won the domestic box office race with an estimated $23 million in 3,619 theaters, including Imax and other premium large screens. That way, the film’s debut will be the sleeper hit Smile, which was released in late September 2022 to $22.6 million and grossed more than $217 million worldwide against a $17 million budget. It will be a little earlier than the first movie.
Internationally, the sequel made $23 million as well.
Returning writer and director Parker Finn, this sequel depicts an evil spirit that causes the host to jump, causing him to grin devilishly. According to the Hollywood Reporter’s review of the film, this time the darkness infects a troubled pop star (Naomi Scott) and feeds off of her trauma. Scott will star opposite Lucas Gage, Rosemary DeWitt, and Miles Gutierrez-Reilly. The sequel’s budget was $28 million, a modest amount for a major studio film.
Smile 2 received a B CinemaScore from audiences, while the first film received a B-. It also had to fend off competition from the holdover slasher “Terrifier 3,” which opened last weekend with $18.9 million despite no ratings and zero TV ads.
Cineverse’s Terrifire 3 came in third place this weekend, grossing just over $9 million in 2,762 theaters and a solid domestic gross of around $36 million on a production budget of $2 million. It is a number.
Some have speculated that DreamWorks/Universal’s The Wild Robots may be benefiting from Terrifier 3, but that doesn’t mean movie theaters will allow under-17s to watch Terrifier without an adult. Because I won’t let you watch 3. (The seller is treating it like an R-rated movie.) Rival studios suspect that teenagers are buying tickets to see Wild Robot and sneaking into Terrifire 3. (The same may apply to the R-rated Smile 2).
In any case, Wild Robot, which is also available for viewing at home via premium VOD, has surpassed the $100 million mark domestically after earning an additional $10 million in 3,829 theaters domestically, making it 2.2 million in its fourth week of release. I am proud to maintain my position. As of Sunday, it had grossed $101.7 million, or $196 million worldwide.
Director John Crowley’s romantic drama We Live in Time has made headlines by climbing the charts to No. 5 after opening in just a few cities last weekend and playing in 985 theaters. Ta. The Andrew Garfield and Florence Pugh drama grossed $4.2 million from 985 locations. A24 is expanding We Live in Time nationwide next weekend.
The big headliner at the awards box office was director Sean Baker’s “Anora,” which opened in six theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The neon classic, about a sex worker who falls in love with the son of a Russian oligarch, won the prestigious Palme d’Or at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival.
“Anora” has an estimated average gross of $90,000 per theater, making it the highest-grossing film since last year’s Wes Anderson’s “Asteroid City” and in the top five of the past five years. .
“Baker is a unique director who truly understands the power of the theatrical experience and how important it is for movies to be seen in theaters. Mikey Madison’s unparalleled performance as Anora and the film’s powerful With our award potential, we have no doubt that we will continue to attract a wide audience into the fall,” said Neon Distribution Director Elissa Federoff.
Last weekend, a handful of Oscar-nominated rivals, including Jason Reitman’s “Saturday Night,” opted for a national release rather than a platform release, but struggled to gain much traction on their second release and received little attention. It didn’t work. Pharrell Williams’ animated biographical film Piece by Piece, co-produced with Lego, came in seventh place with $2.1 million, bringing its domestic total to $7.6 million. “Focus features” releases fell 45%, and “Saturday Night” fell 47% to $1.8 million, placing it in ninth place at the domestic box office with $7.6 million. Meanwhile, the anti-Donald Trump feature film The Apprentice dropped 60% to 13th place with $680,000 and $3.3 million domestically.
Among the holdovers from the major studios, Deadpool & Wolverine has reached another milestone as it nears the end of its theatrical run. Over the weekend, the threequel passed Barbie at the domestic box office for 12th place on the list of highest-grossing films of all time, with an estimated $636.3 million in ticket sales, to Barbie’s $636.2 million not adjusted for inflation. Against.
Conversely, rival comic book film Joker: Folie à Deux continued to struggle, finishing its third weekend with $56.4 million domestically and $192 million worldwide (after opening in China). (including revenue of $5.9 million).
Oct. 20, 8:00 a.m.: Updated with revised estimates.
October 21st 10:00 a.m.: Additional domestic and international grosses updated.
This article was originally published on October 20th at 9:35am
